Liquid film extruding head



Dec. 29, 1964 9 l M. E, WALUS 3,162,897

LIQUID FILM EXTRUDING HEAD Original Filed-Dec. 14, 1961- `2 Sheets-Sheet 1 r" 1 3;), Q Y 9 8 mvENToR j m MARVIN E. WALLIS ATTORNEY Dec. 29, 1964 M. E. WALLIS 3,162,897

LIQUID FILM EXTRUDING HEAD Original Filed Dec. 14, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 |NvENToR l MARVIN a wALLls ATTORNEY United States Patent O 6 claims. (ci. is-lz) This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 159,355, tiled December 14, 1961, which application relates to improved means for packaging various kinds of articles such, for instance, as those which are presently wrapped in sheet material. This divisional application relates more particularly to an eXtruder head for converting high viscosity thermoplastic resinous material under pressure into a liquid film.

Much of the wrapping incident to packaging as practiced today requires the making of a sheet of wrapping material, folding it around the article, tucking the free ends of the sheet under the article, and then heat sealing the tucked under ends. Furthermore, the direction of motion of the article is changed at least twice in the operation of many wrapping machines.

lt is an important object of the present invention to make thermoplastic material in iilm or sheet form so that an article can be passed through the sheet to etiect an enveloping and/ or packaging operation without requiring a folding operation and preferably without changing the direction of motion of the article.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an extrusion head for extruding a downwardly directed iilm or sheet of molten thermoplastic material and move an article through it in such manner as to cause the sheet to wrap around the article and form an airtight enclosing adherent wrapping. f

The article is passed through the sheet by means of two conveyors the adjacent ends of which at a wrapping station are separated by a narrow space through which the aforesaid sheet can pass and fall into a tank between successive arrivals of articles at the wrapping station.

lt is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved extruder head made in such manner as to produce a broad sheet and mounted so as to be adjustable angularly to change the plane of the sheet around horizontal and vertical axes.

The thermoplastic material may be any suitable plastic having the correct melt index, viscosity, transparency or color, tensile strength, resistance to passage of air or water, etc. Polyethylene has been used in the practice of the invention. This material melts at about 350 P. and has a viscosity of about 8000 to 10,000 centipoises and will produce a sheet having a thickness from 1/2 to 11/2 mils. Other materials which may be used include liquid saran (polyvinylidene), polyvinyl chloride if highly plasticized, polypropylene, polystyrene, ethylene copolymers, etc.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example one embodiment of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a machine having the invention applied thereto, certain of the parts being broken away and in cross section tor the sake of clarity,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the head and associated parts, required to extrude a thin wrapping iilm,

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3--3, FIG. 2, v

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views of an enlargement of FIG. 3 and a side view thereof respectively,

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a sheet of the thermoplastic material of the form produced in the present invention, and

ice

FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 are diagrammatic views showing the method of manufacturing the head, FIG. 8 being taken in the direction of arrow 17 in FIG. 7.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 1, the frame F of the machine has legs 1t) and a table top 11 supported on the legs.

' Conveyor The conveyor for the articles M to be wrapped includes two sets of narrow endless belts 15 and 16, the belts of each set preferably aligning the corresponding belts in the other sets. The belts are suitably tensioned and motor driven by means (not shown), and move in the same direction to convey articles M past the gap Sil be- Plastic Sheet Producer The mechanism for making the iilm or sheet of thermoplastic material includes a tank and heater to supply the molten material, an extruder head to discharge the sheet downwardly across the path traversed by the article to be packaged, provision for tensioning the sheet, and means to return the unused material to the tank.

Referring to FIG. l, there is shown a wall 55 enclosing a tank 56 having inner and outer shells 57 and 58, respectively, and bottoms 59 and 6i) for confining heated oil. The oil can be heated in any approved manner, as by electric heater 61. The jacket is entered by upper and lower pipes 62 and 63 respectively, the latter of which leads to a pump 64 belt driven by a motor 65. Leading upwardly from the pump is a pipe 66 which is connected to pipe 62 and continues upwardly as shown. Pipe 62 has therein a valve 67 controllable from above the jacket by rod 68 and hand grip 69. The valve has a conical seat 7i) secured to pipe 62 and a valve head 71 which by turning rod 68 can be moved into the seat to close pipe 62, or be moved away from the seat to open the pipe. Valves to this type are well known. Inlet pipe 73 affords means for introducing fresh plastic material into the tank to compensate for that used up in the operation of the machine.

The amount of molten thermoplastic material which rises in pipe 66 toward the extruding head H is determined by the position of valve 67. If the valve is wide open lthere will be local circulation in the tank, molten material entering pipe 63, see arrow a, going through the pump and then through the valve and out of pipe 62, see arrow b. Little or no material reaches the head H under these conditions. If, on the other hand, valve 67 is partly closed molten material will rise to head H to produce a sheet, as will be described. Complete closure of valve 67 will eiect delivery of molten material to head H under full pressure of the pump 64. Full pressure can be varied by changing the speed of motor 65, or in any manner which will change the operating conditions of the pump. During heating of the thermoplastic material up to operating temperature, or under other nonoperating conditions, the pump will be idle, or be operated slowly with valve 67 wide open.

Secured within the upper part of the tank is a well 75 of ring-like shape having inner and outer circular vertical walls 76 and 77 jointed by a bottom 78. The outer wall 77 is secured to inner wall 56 of the tank and the upper edge of the inne-r wall 76 is sharpened to a knife edge quires the resin to move into the well and prevents it from falling into the tank.

The extruding head His shown in FIGURESV 2 through 9. The upper end of pipe 66 has internal screw threads 86 which receive the screw threaded nipple 87 of a clamp member 88 having a concave spherical surface 89 into which lits a ball 90. A passage 91 through the ball is screw threaded to receive the externally threaded end of body 72 forming part of head H. A second clamp mem-V ber 93 also has a concave spherical surface to fit the ball, and bolts or screws 95Vclamp the members -SS and 93 together tightly to provide a ,tight leak-proof adjustable connection-between pipe 85 and body 72. The ball 9.61 permits limited universal adjustment of the body 72 to accommodate the latter to a variety of operating condi- Itions. 1 'Y The body 72 has a cavity or bore 96 from which leads a short small passage 97. The end of cavity 96 is coneshaped as at 98 to cause the molten plastic material under pressure to move toward the passage 97. A transverse oblique slot 100 communicates with'passage 97 and extends downwardly and is inclined rearwardly or in a direction the opposite to that in which the molten mate rial approaches passage 97, as viewed in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3'shows a significant feature of the slot'lllil.

The transverse areas 101 wich deline the upper configuration of the interior of slot 100 are at an angle A to each other less than 180, preferably about 140, and this angle is bisected by a vertical plane of symmetry line gf passing through the axis of passage 97. The vertex of this angle is indicated at 99 in FIGURE 4. The angle be'- tween the slot 190 and the axis of body 72 as viewed in FlGURE 2 is about 60. This angle in cooperation with surfaces 101 requires some at least of the molten plastic material to reverse its direction of ilow and emerge from the oriic of the slot 100 in a generally left-hand 'direction as shown in FIGURE 2.

FIGURES 4 and 5 show diagrammatically an enlargementof FIGURE 3 and an enlarged side view of FIG- URE 3, respectively. FIGURE 6 shows an elevaiton of a sheet of thermoplastic material of the form produced by thel present invention. In FIGURE 4 line d--e passes horizontally through the small circle f' representing the stream of molten `material in passage 97. Vertical line g intersects the circle of the body at h, and line d--e intersects the circle at k and n. The lines 'p and js represent the upper transverse limiting edges lill of the slot 10i). The'lowest point of the Vslot is represented at w in FIGURES 4 and 5.

Tension of Plastic Sheet y the roll is parallel to thev length of space Strand the roll has a shaft 113 to which is connected a driver (not shown).

The rate at which roll turns is such that its peripheral speed will be somewhat more than the rate of travel of sheet SH toward it. Because of this relation in rates the sheet will be under some tension which tends to orient the particles of which the sheet is made, and also tends to make the sheetl transparent. The Toll is,V

able to tension'the sheet SH due to the fact that the latter is adhesive and sticks to the cylindrical surface of the roll. The periphery ofthe roll can be considered to be a traveling surface, and the roll acts as a draft means on the film.

In order to remove the plastic material which accumulates on the roll there are provided scraper or doctor blades. A primary blade is heldin place on suitable supports. The ,upper edge of this blade does not normal lytouch the -roll but is spaced from it slightly so as `to Y cut oil'the outer part of the accumulated plastic. v'ille remainder of the platsic is removed by asecondary blade f 122. This second blade is set closer to the roll than is blade 129 and normally engages theroll to scrape ott all 'the remaining plastic material. A guide plate 125 mounted as shown close to the secondary blade directs material removed by it to the left-hand lside of thecone Sil as viewed in FIGURE l. n

The plastic materialV which is scraped from 'roll 11i?l falls on coner80 and then'moves into the well 75.` The level of molten material inthe tank is maintained high enough, as at line 139, sothat its heat will keep the material in the Well fluid andenable it to melt material enteringpthe well from the cone. As material falls into the well it carries air bubbles with it and also causes the molten material already in the well to flow over air releasing knife edge 79 and into the tank, which is a receiver for air-free resin. A vent 131 in the top of cone Sil prevents formation of an air trap which would otherwise interfere with passage of material from the well over edge 79. FIG. l illustrates two shields serving to prevent the plastic sheet from getting onto the belts 15 and 16, thus protecting the latter from undesired. accumulation of resin. The right ,andileft-hand shields 135 and 136 respectively are suitably supported by the plate 35. Y

The upper edgesof the shields are oppositely curved at as vshown in FIGURE l to partly at least enclose the adjacent ends of Ythe belts 15 and. The previously mentioned space 5l) is dened by the curved edges 145. The lengthwise centerline ofrthis Vslot is slightly to the right of a vertical plane passing through the axis of roll Returning to the extruding head H, part of the method of its manufacture is shown'in'FlGURES y7, 8, and 9. These iigures are enlarged views showing diagrammatically how the drilling and slotcutting operations are done..

The passage 97 is made by a drill the -cutting edges of which are at an oblique angle to the drill axis and leave a concave conical surface 159 indicated in FIGURE 7.Y

The elements of the cone, as 151, are at'about 60 to the laxis of passage 97.

Slot 19t) is Ythen cut at anangleot about 60 to the axis of passage 97 to a depth Lof slightly, more than half the diameter of body 72. The left-hand'sidc 15,2 (FIG- UREZ) of the slotcuts across the concave conical surface about as shown in VFIGURE 7 at some such pointas 515s on element isi. The height of' not me at this point inthe process is indicated by line 154. Then by two subsequent cutting Voperations slot 161i is extended obliquely upwardly on each side of the centerline fg to form the sides or Walls 191 already mentioned. Cutting or" the slot removes Vthe lower part of the concave conical sLr-y face and'cuts back somewhat into the passage 97, as at 155. Y

At the Vupper part of the right-hand endtFlGURE 9)v boundaries of slot lili? and form angle A against which the downwardly deflected material impnges.

Y The walls 191 serve to deilect laterally mo ten material moving Vtoward them. These downward and lateral deilections ,cylindrical part ofV sneasev e3 combine to give the lm or sheet SH the form shown in FIGURE 6. The axis of the conical surface coincides with the axis of bore 97 and extends across slot ldd.

The body 72 is preferably cylindrical and due to the angle of slot lill) the distance from the central axis of body 72 to the surface of the latter, measured along slot d to point w, is greater than the distance measured horizontally. Since slot 10i? has parallel sides more resistance is offered to movement of resin to point w than to points k and n and this difference compensates for the fact that the shorter central part of the film, FIGURE 11, requires less material than does the outer curved part.

It -is believed that the operation of the machine will be apparent from the foregoing description. After the plastic material has reached its proper temperature, such for instance as 350, and the pump has been set in operation to develop a pressure ranging from 250 p.s.i. to 1000 p.s.i., and valve 67 closed, a liquid film of the plastic material will issue from the slot 10i? and be projected downwardly toward the slot 5t?.

During operation of the machine the article M to be coated will be placed on the conveyor belts 16 and as shown in FIG. l will be moved from left to right. The rotating roll 110 will tend to tension the liquid lm or sheet SH and will strengthen it and at the same time tend to make it more transparent. As the article approaches the sheet, the leading upper part will strike the sheet and as the article continues to move part at least of the sheet will be deposited on and around it and as the article passes through the enveloping zone it will be transferred from belts 16 to belts 15.

As the film leaves the top of the package it will follow down along the trailing end of the package and upon reaching the bottom of the package will break away from the latter and reestablish its contact with the roll before the next article arrives. If the package is placed on the conveyor obliquely with a corner leading then the top and two sides will be enveloped by a single pass and a second pass, with the package reversed and inverted, will complete the operation.

As the machine continues to run some of the resin or plastic material will accumulate on roll 110 and will be removed and fall into the well where it will be melted sufficiently to pass over the knife edge 79 of the well. This edge will have the effect of requiring the molten material to become very thin and bend down at a sharp angle so that any bubbles or air accumulations in the resin will in all likelihood burst so that upon arrival at the tank the material will be substantially free from occuded air.

Reference to FIGURE 6 will call attention to another feature of the invention. Prior to arrival of an article M at the lm SH the latter will be a continuous sheet connected adhesively for its full width to roll 11d. When the article M moves into the film the latter will be interrupted for the width of the article, as for instance for the space x and the film will lose its contact with roll lll? for this portion of its width. The parts y of the film beyond, or at the Sides of, space x will, however, remain in contact with the roll, and as the article leaves the film these parts, still connected to the upper part of the film, will draw the intermediate part of the hlm back to the roll.

it has already been stated that the rate of travel of the periphery of roll 11d is greater than the rate of travel of the film toward the roll in order to tension the film to orient it, but it should be noted that the articles being enveloped can also be moved at a rate greater than that of the film.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A head for extruding a high viscosity thermoplastic resinous material introduced thereinto under pressure into a film, comprising a body having a cross-sectional shape symmetrical about a plane of symmetry and having a bore with an axis lying in said plane and extending at one end to an opening for receiving said material, said body having a slot disposed normal to said plane and extending through the body on both sides thereof to form a discharge orifice, the slot having walls making angles substantially less than with the axis of the bore, the distance through the slot from 'the bore to the orifice being greater at said plane of symmetry and decreasing on each side thereof as the distance from said plane increases.

2. The head as set forth in claim 1, wherein the body is a cylinder having an axis which coincides with the axis of said bore so that when said plane is vertically oriented, the slot will `be longer in the downward direction than in the horizontally outward directions to provide greater resistance to flow of the material in the former than in the latter directions to provide a Wide film of substantially constant thickness.

3. The head set forth in claim 1 wherein the head has an inclined deflecting surface extending partly across the end of the bore adjacent to said slot and inclined toward the slot and away from said one end of the bore, and effective to deflect the material moving out ofthe bore toward the slot.

4. The head set forth in claim 3, wherein the boundary of the slot within the body is defined by two internal walls which form an angle of less than one hundred and eighty degrees with each other and against which resinous material is directed by said inclined surface.

5. The head set forth in claim 1, wherein the body has an inclined deliecting surface extending partly across the end of the bore adjacent to said slot, said surface comprising part of a cone having an axis coincident with the axis of the bore and extending into said slot.

6. The head set forth inclairn l, wherein the boundary of the slot within the body is defined by two lateral walls which form an angle with each other of less than one hundred and eighty degrees.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,985,289 Van Riper Apr. 16, 1963 

1. A HEAD FOR EXTRUDING A HIGH VISCOSITY THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUS MATERIAL INTRODUCED THEREINTO UNDER PRESSURE INTO A FILM, COMPRISING A BODY HAVING A CROSS-SECTIONAL SHAPE SYMMETRICAL ABOUT A PLANE OF SYMMETRY AND HAVING A BORE WITH AN AXIS LYING IN SAID PLANE AND EXTENDING AT ONE END TO AN OPENING FOR RECEIVING SAID MATERIAL, SAID BODY HAVING A SLOT DISPOSED NORMAL TO SAID PLANE AND EXTENDING THROUGH THE BODY ON BOTH SIDES THEREOF TO FORM A DISCHARGE ORIFICE, THE SLOT HAVING WALLS MAKING ANGLES SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN 90* WITH THE AXIS OF THE BORE, THE DISTANCE THROUGH THE SLOT FROM THE BORE TO THE ORIFICE BEING GREATER AT SAID PLANE OF SYMMETRY AND DECREASING ON EACH SIDE THEREOF AS THE DISTANCE FROM SAID PLANE INCREASES. 